Kitchen Incubator is a mother and daughter team founded by two women bound by a passion for food.

When I first moved to Houston in the fall of 2007 I stumbled across an Austin start-up called The Kitchen Space. I had just finished an awesome internship in pastry in New York City and was trailing at a few Houston restaurants trying to decide whether or not to apply for culinary school. After six years in the Northeast I was happy to return to the Southwest and knew I wanted to stick around. When I learned about The Kitchen Space, I realized I’d found my calling.

I was thrilled by the idea that I could combine my business background with my love of food. After only a few hours of Internet research, I filed for incorporation and put up a website: Kitchen Incubator was born!

When I realized that I would need a partner to make Kitchen Incubator happen I knew immediately that my mother would be a perfect fit. Always my partner in culinary crime, she not only shares my passion for food but also brings over 20 years of business management experience to the team.

Together we aspire to combine our passion for the culinary arts with our backgrounds in business to re-invent the concept of the shared-use kitchen and help build the Houston culinary community.

Management Biographies

LUCRECE BORREGO, PRESIDENT

I left my career in Investment Banking to start a food-related business when the markets crashed in the fall of 2007. To develop an understanding of the culinary profession I interned in the kitchens of Michelin-starred Country Restaurant in Manhattan’s Gramercy neighborhood. There I worked directly under acclaimed Executive Pastry Chef Hsing Chen, formerly of The French Laundry, and Sous Chef Katie Rosenhouse to create a variety of plated desserts and accompaniments.

In my previous positions at JPMorgan Chase, I worked in syndicated loans financing and in corporate finance advisory, providing consulting services to many of the largest global Fortune 500 corporations. My experience at Morgan honed skills in financial analysis, strategy and client management. I graduated with honors from the nation’s leading program in entrepreneurship at Babson College and also studied micro-finance at the London School of Economics. At Babson, I operated an on-campus technology business, taught entrepreneurship to Boston youth and provided consulting services to an international specialty food company.

While growing up in New Mexico, I watched the local culinary scene grow from a few New Mexican restaurants to an internationally renowned restaurant scene filled with celebrity chefs and innovative cuisine. It was an exciting time to be in the Santa Fe area. It felt as though everyone wanted to be there and as though the local chefs were growing up with me. I can sense that a similar trend is sweeping across Houston. The culinary scene here has grown up so much in the two years that I have been here and I love being at the forefront of that. I am excited to be a part of it and look forward to working with you all to help it grow even more!

AUDREY ARCHULETA, VICE PRESIDENT

When Lucrece first came to me with the idea for Kitchen Incubator I was not surprised. I had helped her start her first food business, a bustling concession stand network at local sports games, when she was just 11 years old! I’ve also watched her grow as a chef from making box-mix cakes for me while she was still learning how to read to creating five course tasting menus. Eager to help in any way that I could, I offered my business expertise to the project.

For the past decade I have managed some of the world’s top scientists at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. I handle the business operations side so that the scientists can concentrate on the creative side – just like Kitchen Incubator does for chefs! While aspects of cooking are certainly science, chefs and scientists have much more in common; they are hard working, creative and passionate people with extreme dedication to their chosen profession. I am thrilled to be part of this team and look forward to using my business experience to help your businesses grow!